Rants on Cycling and on Life:
Photos of people and bicycles that pass in front of my camera

5.16.2007

same old assholes on different faces on different days

the post work ride after a late afternoon thunder showerthis was another day where I had the magnetic pull of family along with a certain lack of desire to rideso I rode anywaypedaled through the lack of desire with what little time I had

the wet roads and rush hour traffic can be a tough mix with dodging and dashing through traffictried to take the fast fluid routetried to find paths that were not obstacle filledtried not to go too fast as the wet rims would not allow me to get out of things as easily as if they were drykept it in the small ringover spun the cross bike and ignored the big ring

the traffic ran its usual madnesscars doing things putting me at great riskmost drivers not even knowing that I am thereother drivers chasing me down

cars cutting off carscars making blind turnscars pulling out in front of other carsthese cars also doing these same things to meif they do not see the cars... why should I expect them to see me?

my best defense involves a strong offensethis is where I focus on putting myself where I am most safethis involves splitting lanes and running red lightsout running the assholes that are conciously trying to pin me inout running the idiots that can not see mewhate boils through my veinsanger and hatred

I scream obscenities at a few close calls

rolling fast with the lights in my favor I cruise fast down a wide stretch of roadgreen light... green light... green lightWHOA!one car takes an aggressive left hand turn in front of methe second asshole in the queue takes a blind left turn as wellshe sees meI am fearing it too latethe first car was inconsideratethis second car is putting me at riskI am the point of intersectionweight over the rear wheel I pull the brakes hardfighting the endofighting ending up on hood of her carwe each skid to a halther grill feet from my front tireboth of us swerved and skidded in the same direction towards each otherremaining in each other's paththe bike still upright I make sure it is still safe and clear then pedal onwardshe gets a little lipone word... maybe twoit was either C_NT or F_CKING C_NT!either way I felt she deserved it

my momentum continuesthe flow is with menot all the lights favor mebut the flow does favor meI flow forward

a cab driver changes lanes without looking or signaling almost hitting a car in the other lanea car behind me leans on his hornI fear getting pinned between these two carsmy brakes screetch as I make a panic stopthe close call and the sound of the horn take my already elevated heart rate to another levelif I were david banner things would be differentthe car driver makes it clear that he was honking at the cabI am just happy to be along side the cab instead of under itno words exchangedthis is a closer call than the last close callreally close calls tend not to get wordsreally close calls get the sign of the crossthe sign of the cross from recovering catholics and even atheists

I step out of the saddle and get back on coursethe next light is not one worth riskingso I make a right to keep with the flow of trafficthe city is a gridthere are a thousand ways to get where I want to go

I mix a fast moving flow of traffic with carless residential streetsalways trying to put myself where I am most safe

after 45 minutes of racing around in traffic I slow it down as I get closer to homebefore heading home I alter my route by a few blockshad some old mountain bike parts for a friend of a friendstuff that is still in good shapesome 8 speed stuff that I more than likely never need againput the stuff on the porch and roll the final blocks home

I am not that road cyclist that goes out and spins for 6 hoursthat just is not meI do not have the timeand honestlyI just do not have the desire

a fast several day touror pulling the kids in the trailerthese are my ideas of longer rides

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